Stefan Ortega has said that one of his Manchester City teammates is able to do absolutely anything on the pitch.
The goalkeeper is approaching the end of his second season with the Citizens after arriving from Arminia Bielefeld on a free transfer during the 2022 summer transfer window.
Having played and trained with numerous players in Pep Guardiola’s squad, the German has shared some big praise for one specific teammate and what he offers his side.
Ortega says one Man City player can do anything
In a recent short video shared on the FA Cup YouTube channel where he had to say a word or phrase to sum up his City teammates, Ortega had this to say about Manuel Akanji.
He said: “He can do everything.”
Towards the end of the 2022 summer transfer window, the Blues signed Akanji from Borussia Dortmund in a deal worth £15m.
Since then, the defender, who is picking up a weekly wage of £180k-a-week, has made 90 appearances for City across all competitions, chipping in with five goals along the way.
Manuel Akanji has been a very useful player for City this season
This season has seen the 28-year-old show his versatility and usefulness by featuring as a centre-back, left-back, right-back and defensive-midfielder at times throughout the campaign.
With 25 Premier League appearances to his name this season, Akanji has not only racked up the second-highest total of clearances (64) and third-highest total of successful tackles (23) in the City squad, but also has the third-highest number of passes into the final third of the pitch (176).
This showcases just how effective the centre-back is at defending as well as being very useful in terms of moving the ball up the field when in possession.
Taking all of that into account, it’s easy to see why Ortega has said that the Switzerland international can do everything on the pitch.
It also highlights to us just how much of a top signing Akanji has been for the club considering it was a fairly small transfer fee that City had to pay to bring him to the Etihad Stadium.
